AN OCHAThe head of the World Health Organization has called for an end to attacks on hospitals in Gaza.
“Hospitals in Gaza have once again become battlefields and the health system is under serious threat,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
His warning came after the last functioning hospital in besieged northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan, was attacked and forcibly evacuated by the Israeli military on Friday, and two hospitals in Gaza City were attacked on Sunday.
The military said two of the sites were used as Hamas command centers, but denied striking the third.
Dr. Tedros also joined human rights groups and relatives calling for the immediate release of Kamal Adwan's director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained by Israeli forces.
Israel's military said on Saturday that its hospital was a Hamas “stronghold” and that troops killed about 20 “terrorists” and detained 240 others during the raid. It added that Dr. Abu Safiya was among those taken in for questioning and that he was “suspected to be a terrorist agent of Hamas.”
The military did not provide evidence for the allegations, which Hamas dismissed as “lies”.
US-based MedGlobal condemned the detention of Dr Abu Safiya, who was its leading doctor in Gaza, as “not only unjust” but also “a violation of international humanitarian law that upholds the protection of medical personnel in conflict zones”.
His family expressed concern for his health, saying he was still recovering from severe injuries sustained in an attack last month and that he was probably suffering from the cold because he was forced to take off his clothes.
Dr Abu Safiya's son, Elias, told BBC Arabic that the relevant authorities had confirmed reports that he was being held at the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel, where Israeli forces had taken many detainees from Gaza for questioning.
Several Palestinians recently released from the detention center over the weekend also said they saw Dr. Abu Safiya there or heard his name read. according to CNN.
AFPDr Tedros said Kamal Adwan was out of business after the attack and that her critically ill patients had been transferred to the “defunct” Indonesian hospital, which he warned was severely damaged and unable to provide care.
“Amid the ongoing chaos in northern Gaza, WHO and partners today delivered essential medical and hygiene supplies, food and water to the Indonesian hospital and transferred 10 critical patients to al-Shifa Hospital (in Gaza City),” he said.
“Four patients were detained during the transfer. We call on Israel to ensure that their health needs and rights are met.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said one of those detained patients was in critical condition and that seven patients and 10 medical staff remained at the Indonesian hospital.
Israeli forces launched a major ground offensive in the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun on October 6, saying they were stopping Hamas from regrouping there. The UN says the areas are under almost total siege and that Israeli forces have largely denied humanitarian aid for more than 11 weeks.
ReutersDr Tedros also said Al-Ahli Hospital and Al-Wafa Rehabilitation Hospital in Gaza City “were also targeted” and were damaged.
On Sunday, seven people were killed and others seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on the upper floor of al-Wafa hospital, according to the Hamas-run civil defense agency.
The Israeli military said the strike was aimed at Hamas fighters who were using the building as a command and control center. It is added that at that time the building was not a hospital.
But a witness told the BBC there were patients and medical staff at the hospital.
A fourth-year medical student said she was at the hospital with her colleagues preparing for an exam when she was bombed.
“There was heavy smoke and we almost suffocated. Glass from broken windows fell on us. We took cover under the tables and then ran away,” she added.
“As we went down the stairs, we saw patients in wheelchairs, others being carried. Our professor had a head injury and was bleeding, other colleagues had minor injuries.”
The wounded were taken to Al-Ahli Hospital, which Palestinian media said had been hit by Israeli shelling earlier on Sunday.
Videos posted online show damage to the top floor of one of the site's buildings.
However, the Israeli army denied on Monday that its forces had struck the hospital.
A displaced man living near Al-Ahli Hospital told BBC Arabic he feared it would be the next to be attacked by Israeli forces.
“If we are besieged here, where can we go then? How long will this suffering last? We have been displaced about six or seven times,” he said. “They have bombed all the homes, schools and hospitals. There is no safe place for us to take shelter anymore.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also warned on Monday that military action in and around hospitals had “wiped out the health system in northern Gaza, putting civilians at unacceptably high risk of going without life-saving care.”
“Medical facilities have protection and civilians have protection in situations of conflict. They must be respected and that is our constant appeal,” spokeswoman Sarah Davies told the BBC.
“More aid, more supplies must be able to enter Gaza and be safely distributed, and civilians must have safe access to those essential services they rely on to survive.”
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage.
More than 45,540 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.